Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698944019395.pdf (South Africa)
CURRICULUM VITAE ADVOCATE ALAN NELSON SC FULL NAME: ALAN JAMES NELSON ID NUMBER: CONTACT DETAILS PHYSICAL ADDRESS: CELL NUMBER: EMAIL ADDRESS: ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS: BA LLB CUMLAUDE RELEVANT PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE SHOWING CULTURE AND COMMITMENT TO THE PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DATE 1954 1958 – 1964 1964 1965 – 1969 1968 1969 1971 - 1975 1973 - 1974 EXPERIENCE Mother commences to instil a culture of human rights Subjected to racial discrimination as part of the minority group of Christians at Emmarentia Primary School (EPS) in Gauteng Awarded prize for ‘Tolerance, Integrity and Goodwill’ on leaving EPS Attend Roosevelt High School in Johannesburg Elected Deputy Junior Mayor of Johannesburg Elected Head Boy of Rooseveldt High School Study Law at Stellenbosch University ➢ Elected as a member of the Stellenbosch Economic Society and Member of Helderberg House Committee ➢ Elected as Chairperson of Stellenbosch Juridical Society COMMENT See the Application for details One of 3-4 Christians in class.
Some Jewish children live out their belief that they are part of God’s chosen race and that others are inferior My mother’s teaching had everything to do with this award since it shows my response to what can fairly be described as a violation of my dignity at a very young age.
Experience racial discrimination and attitude of superiority by English Speaking Scholars towards students with Afrikaans background Peer selection by members of JHB Junior City Council Note my mother’s refrain regarding equality despite these achievements Experience racial discrimination and attitude of superiority by Afrikaans Speaking Students towards all other students.
I start to question how the conflict was resolved in South Africa prior to colonialism Proud of these achievements despite my English background.

DATE 1975 1976 1976-1977 1976-1978 1977- 1978 1979 1979 - 1994 1979 EXPERIENCE ➢ Primarius of Helderberg House Obtain BA LLB degree Married Marguerite my beloved wife to whom I am still very happily married.

We have three children and seven grandchildren.
We are all extremely proud South Africans Did articles at Marais Muller – a small Afrikaans law firm Lectured part-time at the University of Western Cape Did articles at Fairbridges – a large English law firm Pupillage with Advocate Dennis van Reenen Junior Member of the Cape Bar Intervene physically to stop the unlawful eviction of a black farm worker and his family by SAP from a neighbouring small-holding in Joostenbergvlakte 1979 Meet and assist Peter Motale of Motales Bus Service 1990-1994 1994 -2004 Train pupils in law of evidence and civil procedure Become a Senior Advocate 2004 - 2012 2012 - 2014 2012 Involved as a party in four litigious matters including as a defendant in a defamation action.
Undergo training as a mediator.

Attend three local courses as well as one in Switzerland.

Travel to other countries to see how mediation is progressing there Founded Mediation in Motion NPO COMMENT Cum Laude Marguerite is a medical doctor who has dedicated her life to the treatment of patients in State Hospitals and Clinics.
She currently works for SASSA identifying those in need of disability grants See my application for the benefit that I derived from this experience Adv van Reenen later became a judge Did a lot of construction and civil engineering law encountering an ‘adjudicative’ form of mediation.
Also specialized in administrative law, commercial law, and medical malpractice matters inter alia acting for the Health Professions Council in disciplinary proceedings After this incident, I received a caution from a colleague who was a State Advocate (Alfred Allen) that my name appears on a list of threats to the Apartheid Government compiled by the Security Police.
Despite this, I accommodated the worker and his family – later very much extended – on the small holding that I rented nearby Help Peter Motale to obtain operating licenses and to become the first black businessman to rise to prominence in the transport sector.

Practise extended to competition law, banking, insolvency law, and disputes involving Government entities relating to procurement and service delivery.
Experience how litigation delays can have an adverse impact on the human dignity of many people Experience the traumatic effect of being a party to litigation and the dignity violations that are caused thereby.

See the application for details.


These travels include visiting mediation experts in India, China, Hong Kong, South America, and countries in Europe where mediation is an important method for the resolution of conflict I was previously the Chairperson and am currently the vice-chairperson of this NPO.

See the nomination and letter from Dr. Shamal Ramesar.
DATE 2013 - Present 2013 EXPERIENCE Trained 1260 mediators under the auspices of the UCT law@work program Founded the Nelson Peace Centre on the Nelson Wine Estate, where: COMMENT See Letter from UCT Law@work.

➢ Specialist mediators are trained under the auspices of UCT for particular industries including health, law, and public services ➢ Training is done on a pro bono basis for community and peace mediators.
(With UCT’s permission and the assistance of other mediators with a passion for peace, this training has been offered without any charge being levied.
Until Covid struck, I was also able to sponsor the use of the centre and other lecturing facilities on the farm as well as the food and accommodation for all the hand- picked delegates that attended these courses) ➢ Disputes, including community disputes, are mediated by myself and other mediators ➢ Church services are held on Sundays for farm workers and their families by Pastor Johan Fortuin, and ➢ Other dignity restoration activities are held, including meetings of leaders and others to reconcile 2016 Acted as a judge of the Cape High Court for one term ➢ and to create unity between rival factions of the First Nation people.
I became the first judge to mediate cases despite opposition from the then DJP.

I wrote two judgments in which I dealt at length with the benefits of mediation.

(Although marked “Reportable” these judgments were unfortunately not reported.)

2018 Founding Member of the ‘Mediation Foundation for Peace and Justice’ ➢ During this time, I gained insight into the ignorance of parties and their legal representatives regarding facilitative mediation.
I also became aware that this ignorance extended to ‘old school’ white judges who had no appreciation for consensual conflict resolution and Ubuntu.

The Founding Statement of this NPO records that the Foundation is politically non-aligned and has as its vision the transformation of the way in which South Africans of all political and ideological persuasions resolve conflict and disputes.
To realise this vision the Foundation seeks to create widespread public awareness and education on the potential of mediation to: ➢ Achieve just outcomes in a cost-effective and efficient manner ➢ Create a safe environment for parties to talk directly to each other and to make informed decisions about how best they can resolve their differences.
➢ Give impetus to the adoption of mediation in all spheres, including making quality and impartial mediation services accessible to all South Africans ➢ Overcome barriers to the use of mediation by funding the development and implementation of pre-mediation clauses.
DATE EXPERIENCE COMMENT 2020 Founding member of the Restoration Foundation 2012 – to date Leading the introduction of mediation in the medical industry by: ➢ Enable indigent disputants to have access to quality and independent mediation services.

➢ Introduce and regulate mediators to work as peacemakers in communities throughout South Africa.
➢ Develop mechanisms for the early flagging of problems and the exchange of digital data for scientific analysis to secure early interventions and problem-solving The founding statement of this organization records that it was formed by a group of Christians from different backgrounds who desire, under God, to promote and implement, in love, the restoration of the dignity for all people who live in South Africa who have been victims of unjust, racially based laws that have resulted in the deprivation of their self-worth (Mat.
22: 39; Neh.

5: 11).

➢ Developing a special training course for the mediation of medical cases as part of the UCT law@work training program and overseeing the training of such mediators at the Nelson Peace Centre.

➢ Meeting with Dr. Pakishe Aaron Matsoaledi (when he was the Minister of Health) together with the late Judge Neels Claassen (whom we trained as a mediator) regarding the importance of introducing mediation in the Public Health Sector.
This has culminated in a pilot project in which medical cases arising from incidents in State hospitals are currently being mediated.

➢ Encouraging insurers in the private sector (the MPS, Constantia Insurance Company, and Natmed), to refer claims against medical practitioners for mediation.

➢ Meeting with the directors of private hospital groups to encourage them to mediate claims brought against their hospitals and staff.
➢ Designing and drafting a pre-mediation protocol and clause for public and private hospitals and for medical practitioners.

➢ Hosting a conference at the Nelson Peace Centre and speaking at numerous other conferences of general practitioners and specialists to promote mediation in the medical industry.

➢ Procuring sponsorship for the training of more than 200 specialist medical mediators in the public and private sectors.
➢ Engaging with medical specialist bodies to devise ways of preventing medical expert witnesses from participating in what appears to be an unscrupulous feeding frenzy created by litigation.

➢ For the same reason, becoming the mediation director of the South African Medico-Legal Association (SAMLA) in 2017/2018 and meeting with attorneys that represent parties in such claims.
➢ Authoring numerous articles in medical journals and the press expounding the benefits of mediation EXPERIENCE DATE Assisting the First Nation People to a better future 1994 Founder Member of Paarl Children Fund COMMENT 1996 2020 2018 - 2023 2023 2023 Worked with school headmasters from disadvantaged schools in Paarl to raise funds by hosting a wine auction on my farm.

These funds were transferred to the Nelson Mandela Children Fund.
Donated, assets, facilities, and services to a value of between R5 and R6 million Rand towards the upliftment of people that are more vulnerable than any other in our country Donated 10% of my farm (25% of vineyard land) to my farm workers Receive ‘Acknowledgement of Exceptional Performance Award’ from The Peace Garden Steering Committee in the category of Land Redistribution Application to the Cape High Court (that ended in the Constitutional Court) to change the Electoral Act so that a leader of First Nation (Ms. Chantal Revel) can stand for election to parliament without belonging to a political party.
Accept nomination as an Elder of SADRA MiMM of which I am the vice-chairperson is currently engaged in a number of projects to promote consensual conflict resolution.

My personal contribution this year includes: See the nomination letter from SADRA ➢ SAQA Introducing a pro bono mediation program in lower courts and proposing mechanisms to promote mediation in the High Courts.
➢ Working with other EXCO members to register mediation as a recognised profession in terms of This has been a five-year court battle that was motivated by the need to restore the dignity of the First Nation People.

Other parties have come on board as the matters progressed that have other objectives.
Lead-up to this application 19 to 30 June 2023 We do mediation training for 40 attorneys and advocates from all over South Africa ➢ Liaising with other professional bodies such as SAMA – The South African Medical Association – to promote mediation in disputes involving their members ➢ Meeting with Government entities and offering pro bono mediation services to them in order to familiarise them with the process and its benefits I discover that the new High Court Rule 41A is not having the desired effect to ensure that parties first try to resolve disputes consensually by mediating before proceeding with litigation and that lawyers are paying lip- service to the rule 1 July 2023 5 July 2023 I see advertisement in the press for the positions of commissioners of the HRC I learn that litigation is causing wide-scale service delivery delays At this point, I resolve to bring this application because poor service delivery due to protracted and expensive litigation breaches the Constitutional imperatives of basic human rights.
The HRC is ideally suited as the platform to promote and encourage the institutionalisation of the concept of mediation as a predecessor to adversarial resolution of disputes.

DATE 10 July 2023 13 July 2023 EXPERIENCE Meet with the acting Judge President of W-Cape High Court to discuss remedies Attend a meeting (in Gauteng at own cost) with interested parties and academics regarding need for Procurement Bill to provide for consensual conflict resolution.
COMMENT Realised that significant effort from various platforms is required to bring about the mindset change of activating Court Rule 41A related to mediation.

Note with concern that the Bill makes no provision for Consensual Conflict resolution prior to adversarial steps being taken.

Mediation Experience Since I started mediating in 2012, I have mediated hundreds of cases.
Due to the confidential nature of such matters, I am not in a position to disclose any details save to say that I have mediated a vast number of matters including: 1.

Large and small-scale community disputes including cross-cultural disputes 2.

Disputes involving land-restoration 3.

Sporting disputes 4.

Small as well as extremely large commercial disputes 5.

Family disputes 6.

Medical disputes 7.

Mediations on the eve of uprisings and revolt 8.


Mediations involving municipalities and other government entities 9.

Mediations involving important matters such as fees must fall 10.

Mediations involving local and international companies 11.

Disputes in the construction and civil engineering industries 12.

Disputes in the dentistry and veterinary industries 13.

Development project disputes 14.

Agricultural disputes 15.

Copyright matters 16.

Disputes in the wine industry 17.


Disputes in the transport industry 18.

Housing disputes 19.

Disputes in the security industry 20.

Disputes in the wholesale and retail industries 21.

Disputes involving large mining companies 22.

Disputes in the tourism industry and DATE EXPERIENCE COMMENT 23.

Disputes involving land-claims 24.

Disputes involving academic institutions 25.


Disputes involving members of Professional Societies and NPO’S In line with international statistics, I would say that more than 90% of these matters were resolved to the satisfaction of all of the parties with 70% of these taking a day or less.

The cost of these mediations would on average be less than 1% of what litigation would have cost.
From this experience, I have learned how valuable some attorneys can be in assisting their clients to obtain high-value low-cost solutions.

I have also on occasions encountered lawyers that have had a very detrimental effect in the search to find consensual resolutions to their clients’ cases.

In my view, they were clearly motivated by their own selfish interests.
I have learned that there are ways in which these and other obstacles to mediation can be overcome, especially by a knowledgeable person in the position of a commissioner of the HRC.

In the premises, I truly believe that if given the chance, I will indeed be able to transform the way in which conflict is resolved thereby promoting peace and prosperity for all South Africans.